Apparatus for washing coal and the like



Deco 18, rM923?,

A. HENRY APPARATUS FOR WASHING GOAL AND TH Filed Deo. 51 Sheets=h5at l 1R. A., HENRY APPARATUS FOR WASHING COAL AND THE LIKE REN AUGUSTE HENRY, OIE LEEGE, BELGIUM'.

AEPRATUS FCB; "WASHING COAL AND THE Lm.

Application le Becember 31, 1919. Serial No. $478,672.

To ai? wiso/m it may concern:

Be it known that I, REN AUGUSTE Hauer, engineer, a subject of the King of Belgium, and resident of Liege, in the Kingdom of Belgium, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Apparatus for lVashing Coal and the like; and i do hereby declare the. following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures oi' reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to apparatus in which materials such as coal and ore are classified by precipitation by gravity by means of a current of water.

ln apparatus ot' this kind the present invention relates more particularly to those comprising a trough traversed longitudinally by a carrying current of water that also Washes the materials; this trough being formed with an aperture through which a counter-current passes which counter-current eets the iirst current at right angles. The aterials of eater "specific gravity pass through the said aperture, whereas the materials of lesser specific gravity pass out of the trough at its down-stream end.

According to the present invention the water and the materials pass longitudinally through the trough, and travel in one and the same closed circuit; and the materials travel in this closed circuit up to the moment of their discharge.

By reason of thls operation the trough may be called an endless trough, since the same particles ofv material can travel along the trough as many times as is necessary.

Further, the consumption of circulating water is practically nothing: the sole consumption of water being that of the Water of the counter-current, the overflow of which isl very small.

in a particularly advantageous constructional form ot this invention the current of the closed circuit (water and materials) is maintained by means of a centrifugal pump the inlet orifice ci which is artly submerged whereby the pump sucks 1n a certain quantity of air in addition to the water and the solid materials.

lt is to be noted that the presence of the air is o great utility from the point of view of the working of the apparatus. Whereas the speed of rotation of the pump remains constant, the said air allows of varying the volume of the circulating current of water while leaving the suction and delivery'passa es wide open. n the other hand the presence of air allows of introducing solid materials into the suction or inlet orifice of the pump without causing serious disturbance in the circulation of the liquid since the solids merely take the place of a certain volume of air. Further, if the inlet orifice of the pump were completely submerged, oscillations would take place due to the phenomenon known as surging, which would interfere with the proper working of the apparatus.

Two constructional forms of thls invention are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view partly in section of one Aterm of the improved apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of an apparatus wherein the open circuit countercurrent flows in an upward direction.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a form Aof the apparatus wherein the open circuit counter-current flows in a downward direction.

In both cases the improved apparatus comprises the same essential features. it is to he noted that one and the same apparatus may be made to execute successively the processes illustrated by Figs. 2 and 1 by merely opening and closing suitable cocks.

1n the drawings, V indicates the main current of water and materials travelling in the closed circuit and @,Vv and v indicate the countercurrent.

Fig. 1 illustrates the same arrangement as Figs. 2 Vand 3. In this arrangement the Water charged by chute 13 with the materials to be treated, is conveyed by way of delivery pipe 1 of the centrifugal pump 2, into trough 3 through which it Hows longitudinally. Thetrough is formed lwith an aperture 4 through which an ascending I Y Y of the water in the trough 3, and it is this dierence of level that produces the ascending current. The lighter materials pass out at the down-stream end of the trough 3, whereas the water flowing in the closed circuit which carries along the mixed Amaterials, that isto sa the materials that have not yet been bro en up or classified, passes out of the trough through an Vaperture 5, and is conveyed again to the pump 2 by a channel 12. The aperture 'carries a grating having openings adapted to be closed by means of slats (for instance of wood) such as 8 pivoted close to the bottom of the trough 3. These slats are adapted to be operated separately in such a manner as to allow of regulating the force of the closed circuit current.

Again the inlet orifice of the centrifugal pump 2 there is arranged a hopper 9 which is traversed by the closed circuit current, and in which thev raw materials might be introduced if desired.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 4, the current passin through the aperture 4 descends instea of ascending and conveys the heavier particles of material towards thelower layer of liquid. In'thisv arrangement the cock 7 shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, is replaced by a cock 10 situated for instance at the up-stream end of the trough j 3 and delivering a current @Ll-o of which a portion o' flows through the aperture 4, While the other portion o passes out at the down-streamend of the trough, andcarries l awa the lighter particles of the material.

T e reservoir 6 is further provided with a cock 1l for discharging the portion lv of the aforesaid open circuit current o-|o.

As in the arrangement 'illustrated in the preceding figures, in this arrangement also the materialsthat have not yet'been completely classified will remain in the closed circuit-until their complete classification has been affected.

What I claim is:

A gravity separation apparatus, comprising, a horizontal trough traversed by a main current of water circulating in a closed circuit, means for introducing material to be treated into said current, a plurality of openings at the bottom of the said trough for the discharge, first, of the heavier particles of said material out of the closed cir.-

cuit, second, of the lighter particles of saidmaterial out of the closed circuit, and third, of the main current and the remaining nonseparated part of said material, and a centrifugal pump in the closed circuit and having its inlet opening partly submerged in the circulating current whereby to s1multane' ously suck in air, material and water.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

REN AUGUSTE HENRY. Witnesses:

G. VAN um; HAEGLEN, LEONARD LERA. 

